SAN ANTONIO, Texas - The Newman women's basketball team moved into sole possession of first place in the Heartland Conference with a 62-53 win over previously-unbeaten St. Mary's Saturday afternoon at Bill Greehey Arena in San Antionio, Texas. Tasha Cannon led the Jets with 20 points and nine rebounds.

Newman (11-6, 2-0 Heartland) knew they were in for a battle with St. Mary's (11-7, 2-1 Heartland), who had been picked to win the conference in the pre-season polls. The Rattlers spotted the Jets three early points behind a jumper and a free throw from Tasha Cannon, but a Mallory Moeller lay-up on St. Mary's' next possession brought the Rattlers back to within a point. The two teams exchanged one-point leads six times over the next three minutes before another Moeller lay-up gave the Rattlers a three-point, 12-9 advantage at the 14:32 mark. Rhea Codio answered Moeller's lay-up with a jumper of her own to narrow the St. Mary's lead to one, 12-11, at the 13:33 mark. The two teams exchanged one-point leads four more times over the next three minutes, but a Philicia Kelly lay-up with 10:24 to play broke a 17-17 tie, and sparked a 13-4 Newman run, capped by a Bobbi Coleman jumper with 4:52 remaining that gave the visiting Jets a nine-point, 30-21 advantage. Newman led by at least seven points for the remainder of the half, and held a 34-25 edge at the end of a first half which saw five ties and 12 lead changes.

St. Mary's held Newman scoreless for nearly two minutes to open the second half, and scored the first four points of the final period to narrow Newman's lead to 34-29, but a Tasha Cannon jumper with 18:18 to play pushed the Jets' lead back to seven, 36-29. Newman led by at least five for the next eight minutes, and took a nine-point, 44-35 lead at the 13:40 mark when Sade Mungo drained a triple. The Rattlers wouldn't go down silently, however. A DeAnna Patterson lay-up on the ensuing Rattler possession trimmed the Newman lead back to seven, and sparked a 7-0 Rattler run to pull the hosts to within two, 44-42, after a Kristen Williams free throw with 9:25 to play. Not to be out-done, Newman answered with a four-straight points to take a six-point, 48-42, lead after a Cannon jumper with 8:28 remaining, but again the Rattlers had an answer. A 9-3 run over the next four minutes pulled St. Mary's back to within two after Moeller jumper at with 4:56 left to play, but Newman got the last laugh. A pair of free throws from Sam Soyez sparked a 11-4 run over the final four minutes of the game that proved insurmountable for the Rattlers, as Newman cruised to the 62-53 win.

Tasha Cannon went seven-for-11 from the floor, and hit six of her eight free throws en route to a game-high 20 points, and added a game-high nine points to lead the Jets. Philicia Kelly used a seven-for-10 performance of her own to finish with 16 points in the winning effort. As a team, Newman shot 44.2 percent (19-43) from the field, and out-rebounded the Rattlers 38-36.

Mallory Moeller led St. Mary's with 18 points and a team-high seven rebounds.

With the win, the Jets improve to 11-6 on the season, and remain undefeated at 2-0 in Heartland Conference play. Newman will return to action Thursday, hosting the Texas-Permian Basin Falcons in a 5:30 p.m. contest inside Fugate Gymnasium.